Babelgum Names Director of Content Acquisition

LONDON, February 4:
Internet television platform Babelgum has appointed Mark Cranwell as the
director of content acquisition, a newly created post.

In this new role, Cranwell
will lead Babelgum’s outreach efforts to producers, filmmakers and content
creators in order to bulk up the network’s offerings and support the platform’s
content strategy. He will report directly to Simon Kenny, Babelgum’s head of
content strategy and advertising, and will operate from the company’s London
office.

Cranwell previously served
as the director of business affairs for BT Vision, the broadband-delivered VOD
service based in the U.K. As part of the company’s senior management team, he
was responsible for acquiring new content for the platform, and oversaw
negotiations with studios and distributors for all content.

“Having an executive of
Mark’s talent even further strengthens our content acquisition team,” said Valerio
Zingarelli, the CEO of Babelgum. “Simon and his team are aggressively
pursuing our strategy to provide our audience with content reflecting the
variety and richness they expect to find in content online.”

“We welcome Mark to our growing
operation and look forward to his immediate contributions,” added Kenny. “He
brings a unique view of the digital community and strong relationships within
the creative community that I know will create many opportunities for
Babelgum.”

Cranwell commented: “I am
very excited to join Babelgum, which is best positioned to provide fresh and
unique content to the consumer audience. The successful track record of our
senior executives, sound infrastructure and innovative business model to
deliver quality content was very attractive to me and I’m looking forward to
joining the team.”

—By Ned Berke